Town Square

Explanation, not excuse

Original post made
by Gina Channell-Allen, president of the Pleasanton Weekly,
on Aug 8, 2013

I had an email exchange with a reader that I thought I would share with you. The editorial staff and I appreciate feedback, positive or negative (particularly positive though), and the chance to respond.

Reader: Hi I read your PW.com on line paper every day. It's a quick read with good summary information. I am troubled (however) with the number of typos I find in your paper. Today, for example in your Grab Bag section the word "stole" should be stolen. Do you agree?

Me: Yes, I agree that there are more typos than I would like to see. One is too many for me! Unfortunately it's a result of what is happening in the industry as a whole. Ten years ago we had seven full-time editorial staffers doing two weekly newspapers (Pleasanton Weekly and Danville Weekly). Now we have three full-time and one part-time editorial staff members doing one weekly paper and four news websites that have to be updated 24/7, as well as the four daily Express emails.

This is not an excuse as much as an explanation. It grieves our hearts when we see mistakes; the four people on staff and their fearless former-journalist leader (me) are old-school journalists who remember the good old days when there were more reporters and editors than papers to produce and websites to update.

Thank you for reaching out, and keep reading please.

Reader: I suspected your explanation was the reason for the typos and I'm glad you don't consider it an excuse.
I thank you for your response.

I appreciate your work and your answering this particular posting. I also appreciate the fact that you and your team seem to be doing a more thorough job of reviewing most if not all postings and "weeding out" the ones that appear to be no more than innuendoes, accusations and just plain personal attacks that never have any bearing on the actual subject matter. Perhaps if you limited the responses on more controversial subjects to registered members, it might cut down on the number of irrelevant comments. I don't always agree with you on various subject, but I do appreciate the effort. Thanks.

Don't miss out on the discussion!Sign up to be notified of new comments on this topic.

Email:

Post a comment

Posting an item on Town Square is simple and requires no registration. Just complete this form and hit "submit" and your topic will appear online.
Please be respectful and truthful in your postings so Town Square will continue to be a thoughtful gathering place for sharing community information
and opinion. All postings are subject to our TERMS OF USE, and may be deleted if deemed inappropriate by our staff.

We prefer that you use your real name, but you may use any "member" name you wish.

Name:*

Select your neighborhood or school community:*

Comment:*

Verification code:* Enter the verification code exactly as shown, using capital and lowercase letters, in the multi-colored box.